Facebook stock was on the rise Monday after a couple of positive analyst reports. / Matt Rourke AP

by Scott Martin,
USA TODAY

by Scott Martin,
USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook appears to have "friended" some Wall Street analysts over its mobile ad prospects.

Shares of Facebook surged 8.1% on Monday after a pair of analysts predicted mobile revenue upside at the social network.

The movement marks the latest potential for Facebook to emerge as a steady-growing business in the wake of a disastrous initial public offering and growth concerns.

Facebook shares rose $1.94 to $25.94.

"As soon as they introduced sponsored stories back in June, it was clear that was how they were going to monetize mobile," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said of the advertising push.

Facebook's sponsored-story ads in news feeds are items that relate to people's "likes" or listed interests.

The round of advertising optimism comes from BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield and Bernstein Research analyst Carlos Kirjner. Greenfield forecasts Facebook's revenue is poised to boom in the fourth quarter because more ads are appearing in the mobile news feeds on its app.

Facebook analyst Kirjner agrees with the premise, saying the social-networking giant is on track to beat consensus estimates for revenue over the next two years. For 2013, Kirjner forecasts the site will report nearly $7 billion in revenue, 9% higher than the $6.4 billion consensus estimate.

For 2014, the analyst expects Facebook will hit revenue of nearly $8.7 billion, besting by 7% the consensus estimate for $8 billion.

Bernstein's analyst expects that such news feed ads will be Facebook's main driver of revenue growth.

"Facebook probably can increase the number of ad impressions per user per day with limited chance of seeing material deterioration in user experience," Kirjner said in a note to clients.

For Facebook users, that means a continued onslaught of advertisements showing up in one's news feed. It remains to be seen whether such a mix of advertising will rub members the wrong way. The downfall of MySpace came as the company became a Las Vegas-like strip of flashing ads that annoyed users.

In September, Facebook unleashed its Gifts service. The gift-giving feature could unlock new forms of revenue as the company experiments with such social commerce that allows people to exchange gift cards. Starbucks, Magnolia Bakery and 1-800-Flowers were among Facebook's 100 launch partners. On Monday, Facebook added iTunes digital gifts.

Shares of Facebook have been slowly gaining ground from a 52-week low of $17.55 on an improved advertising outlook for the company.